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I asked my CA about changing my delivery date to one day earlier... No problem! Moved it to the morning of the 9th, so looking at doing the delivery in the AM, hopefully followed by the tour at 11:30...

Gotta finalize my itinerary!

I will be in a Z4 35is with performance tires... arrive on the 8th, pickup on the 9th... I am staying the night in Munich that night, but am open to where to go from there... Originally wanted to do Zurich, Lake Como, Venice, Vienna and back to Munich for drop off... but, with the weather being an issue with my tires, I don't want to chance it...

My return air is from Munich in the morning of 19-Oct.

So, I am *thinking* of doing Fussen, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Cologne, Berlin, and to Bremerhaven for dropoff...

If any of you have additional suggestions, that would be awesome as we would really love to somehow do Warsaw - but I have no clue how the weather is heading so far east... Just want to have a good time, see some great stuff, and enjoy my new car... So excited!!

I will be in a Z4 35is with performance tires... arrive on the 8th, pickup on the 9th... I am staying the night in Munich that night, but am open to where to go from there... Originally wanted to do Zurich, Lake Como, Venice, Vienna and back to Munich for drop off... but, with the weather being an issue with my tires, I don't want to chance it...

My return air is from Munich in the morning of 19-Oct.

So, I am *thinking* of doing Fussen, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Cologne, Berlin, and to Bremerhaven for dropoff...

You have about 10 days to play with and, because of performance tires, it would be wise to adopt your new plan and stay north of the Alps. Because you are travelling in October there probably is no need to make any advance hotel reservations - in other words you can extend or cut your stay in each place so long as you make your return flight. Here is how I would spend those days:

From Munich head to Salzburg and spend two nights with the day in between exploring the town.. If the weather is nice visit Herrenchiemsee on the way. If the weather is terrible and Salzburg is snowbound then I would skip Salzburg.

Travel along the Alpenstrasse to Fussen. Go through Ramsau and photograph the exterior of the church. Check to see if the Eagle's Nest (near Berchtesgaden) is open. Only go up if it is a clear day. Stop wherever you find the scenery to be appealing - which should be numerous occasions. Definitely stop in Mittenwald and also visit the Linderhof Palace. Stop again at Wieskirche, a beautiful rococo interior. Stay two nights in Fussen and visit Neuschwanstein on the intervening day.

Continue along the Alpenstrasse to Mulhouse in France and visit the Cite de l'Automobile car museum. From there head along the Route des Vins stopping in Colmar and Riquewihr. Spend the night in Riquewihr.

Then head to Stuttgart and see the Mercedes and Porsche Museums. Spend two nights in Stuttgart.

Drive north to Koblenz and from there drive alongside the Mosel River to Beilstein and stay one night.

The next day continue along the Mosel to Cochem and then head north to Cologne. Spend one night in Cologne.

The next day continue to Bremerhaven.

That should give you a good sampling of the beauties of France, Bavaria and Austria. If I have included too many nights in my plan just cut some of the time allocated to places which are not so appealing to you.

Berlin Warsaw is all highway now, you can get from Berlin to Warsaw in 5 hours or so (2 hrs to Poznan, 2 do Lodz, 1 to Warsaw). The speed limit in Poland on the highways is 140 kph, but by law they allow +10 kph in your favor. Also, highways are new, well built and relatively empty (there are several tolls from Berlin to Warsaw). Weather-wise you should be fine, I do not remember any snow events that time of the year.

Berlin Warsaw is all highway now, you can get from Berlin to Warsaw in 5 hours or so (2 hrs to Poznan, 2 do Lodz, 1 to Warsaw). The speed limit in Poland on the highways is 140 kph, but by law they allow +10 kph in your favor. Also, highways are new, well built and relatively empty (there are several tolls from Berlin to Warsaw). Weather-wise you should be fine, I do not remember any snow events that time of the year.

THANKS!!! That sounds so tempting... I am finally out from work and sitting at dinner with my computer to try and finalize this thing.

You have about 10 days to play with and, because of performance tires, it would be wise to adopt your new plan and stay north of the Alps. Because you are travelling in October there probably is no need to make any advance hotel reservations - in other words you can extend or cut your stay in each place so long as you make your return flight.
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That should give you a good sampling of the beauties of France, Bavaria and Austria. If I have included too many nights in my plan just cut some of the time allocated to places which are not so appealing to you.

Great itinerary post Trinitony. We just got back and there are just so many countries and choices, you really helped the OP to come up with a nice plan. Got to love the fest.

If you want to see a little of Munich, use the Hop On/Hop Off Greyline bus which departs at the department store across from the main train station. You can just show up and purchase tickets. If you catch the 9:00 am tour bus, you can be at the Welt by 10:45 - 11:00 am and have seen the highlights of Munich. We did this on our delivery day which was our day three. We did all of our paperwork, toured the factory and the museum the day before which was our day two. On day one, as we arrived at 3:00 pm, we only had time to check-in and then eat dinner at Augustiner-Keller; the beer, food and company was great.

Great itinerary post Trinitony. We just got back and there are just so many countries and choices, you really helped the OP to come up with a nice plan. Got to love the fest.

AGREE!!! This is fantastic stuff

Quote:

If you want to see a little of Munich, use the Hop On/Hop Off Greyline bus which departs at the department store across from the main train station. You can just show up and purchase tickets. If you catch the 9:00 am tour bus, you can be at the Welt by 10:45 - 11:00 am and have seen the highlights of Munich. We did this on our delivery day which was our day three. We did all of our paperwork, toured the factory and the museum the day before which was our day two. On day one, as we arrived at 3:00 pm, we only had time to check-in and then eat dinner at Augustiner-Keller; the beer, food and company was great.

We were in Munich last year and got to see a little... Arriving on the 8th in the evening and getting up for delivery at 10:45am, then the 11:30am tour. We are free the afternoon of the 9th, staying near Welt and are starting our road trip on the 10th in the morning....

Guys you have me a liitle on edge. ED on the 5th first night in Fussen next two in Lauderbrunnen and two in Lake Como, then back to Munich and fly out on the 12th. The weather I know can change on a dime. Do you think I am making a mistake to press on.

Guys you have me a liitle on edge. ED on the 5th first night in Fussen next two in Lauderbrunnen and two in Lake Como, then back to Munich and fly out on the 12th. The weather I know can change on a dime. Do you think I am making a mistake to press on.

What kind of *tires? I wouldn't make non refundable hotel reservations. That way, if the weather changes, you can modify your itinerary on the spot. I would check the weather for last year at the same time just to see what it was like.

That should give you a good sampling of the beauties of France, Bavaria and Austria. If I have included too many nights in my plan just cut some of the time allocated to places which are not so appealing to you.

So... I have "mapped" this out by plugging in the place names you mentioned here... and this is what it looks like... MY GOOGLE MAPS

So... I have "mapped" this out by plugging in the place names you mentioned here... and this is what it looks like... MY GOOGLE MAPS

Yes, it's a bit of a "loop" but it hits the main sights along the way. A couple of notes about your Google map:

The section between Ramsau and Mittenwald uses the autobahn and takes you through Innsbruck. The really attractive drive is the Alpenstrasse which stays just north of the Austrian/German border. I have found that neither Google nor ViaMichelin will follow the Alpenstrasse without a lot of "way points". AlfredG went to the trouble of doing just that and I don't think he'd mind if you used it. Here is the URL:

The part of the Alpenstrasse that appealed to me most was between Salzburg and Fussen. The part that goes on to Lindau is not so pretty.

I have not driven the route that Google chose from Lindau to Mulhouse that goes through Switzerland. I would think it is very scenic. The Swiss vignette costs about $40 and that puts many people off especially when they are only going to spend an hour or two on Swiss roads - but the vignette is good for a year, but you probably have to bring your car back as it is stuck to the windshield!

Stuttgart's main appeal to me are the two car museums. If you have had enough car museums for the trip then I would skip Stuttgart and spend more time in Alsace and along the Mosel.

Again Google routes you mostly on the fast roads from Koblenz to Cochem and skips the really beautiful part which is road along the Mosel. I think the road that you need out of Koblenz is #416 or #49 which goes through Winningen, Niederfell and Oberfell. These roads follow the Mosel and one is on the north side and the other on the south. I liked the one on the south side slightly better but, if you have time, do both.

Yes, it's a bit of a "loop" but it hits the main sights along the way. A couple of notes about your Google map:

The section between Ramsau and Mittenwald uses the autobahn and takes you through Innsbruck. The really attractive drive is the Alpenstrasse which stays just north of the Austrian/German border. I have found that neither Google nor ViaMichelin will follow the Alpenstrasse without a lot of "way points". AlfredG went to the trouble of doing just that and I don't think he'd mind if you used it. Here is the URL:

The part of the Alpenstrasse that appealed to me most was between Salzburg and Fussen. The part that goes on to Lindau is not so pretty.

I have not driven the route that Google chose from Lindau to Mulhouse that goes through Switzerland. I would think it is very scenic. The Swiss vignette costs about $40 and that puts many people off especially when they are only going to spend an hour or two on Swiss roads - but the vignette is good for a year, but you probably have to bring your car back as it is stuck to the windshield!

Stuttgart's main appeal to me are the two car museums. If you have had enough car museums for the trip then I would skip Stuttgart and spend more time in Alsace and along the Mosel.

Again Google routes you mostly on the fast roads from Koblenz to Cochem and skips the really beautiful part which is road along the Mosel. I think the road that you need out of Koblenz is #416 or #49 which goes through Winningen, Niederfell and Oberfell. These roads follow the Mosel and one is on the north side and the other on the south. I liked the one on the south side slightly better but, if you have time, do both.

You have no idea how much help you have been! I can't wait... now I just gotta get the other half to understand how much time will be spent in the car driving

And talk about timing... Everyone complains that time slows down in the last 30 days prior to delivery... My clock is on fast forward as I have been traveling for the last 2 weeks, just got home last night, and off to MN on Sunday till the day before I leave for Munich... For me, time is flying by!

Went to the dealer today and signed final paperwork... Also noticed a couple of other exciting things today... First, my car is now in "production ends" status! Next, there was a 2013 in the showroom with the black alcantara leather that I ordered and I LOVED it!!!

The sales manager happened to have lived in Vienna for 7 years and when I showed him the map, he agreed with not taking a chance in the alps and remaining north. In addition, he pointed out a couple of other places close to our route, so I have taken what I wanted, added some of the suggestions here and offline folks to come up with my final "planned" route... I remain flexible and don't have reservations along the route yet. This is going to be an adventure!! Here is the link to my "final" map... https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid...aae4a81e&msa=0

I am right behind you taking delivery on the 10th. We are taking Fussen to Salzburg and then Venice to Lake Como and then Lauterbrunnen to Zurich. Am I at risk of driving in the snow or are there always lower options to take to keep out of the high altitudes? I worry about the Lake Como to Lauterbrunnen trip.

The sales manager happened to have lived in Vienna for 7 years and when I showed him the map, he agreed with not taking a chance in the alps and remaining north. In addition, he pointed out a couple of other places close to our route, so I have taken what I wanted, added some of the suggestions here and offline folks to come up with my final "planned" route... I remain flexible and don't have reservations along the route yet. This is going to be an adventure!! Here is the link to my "final" map... https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid...aae4a81e&msa=0

You have a full program lined up that should give you a great experience. Even though you do not have reservations I do not think that you will have any problem finding places to stay. October is usually an ideal travel month as there are relatively few tourists on the road. Of course, events such as Oktoberfest can change all that. I would be inclined to make your first and last night's reservation before you leave, and you may want to reserve your preferred hotel in Berlin ahead of time. Other than that, check your other overnight locations for conventions and other hotel filling events.

A couple of nitpicks: 1) On your way from Salzburg to Fussen, if you are enjoying the first part where you are following the Alpenstrasse, I would stay on the Alpenstrasse the rest of the way. Google has routed you on an autobahn through Innsbruck and IMO Innsbruck is just another modern town and by including it you will miss some spectacular scenery.

2) At some point between Frankfurt and Cologne I would get off the autobahns and drive alongside the Rhine and, if possible, the Mosel. The Rhine between Bingen and Koblenz is very beautiful and the Mosel from Koblenz to Cochem is even more beautiful.

Obviously I am recommending adding additional driving time to an already full program. I also will not have to get up early the next morning with you to do the next segment. So I fully accept your decision to stay on the autobahns!

Tony... I think we will find time to get off the beaten path at some points... I was encouraged to do the same by the sales manager, so I will pack some extra 5-hour energy bottles and make some variations. As a photographer (serious hobbyist) I have seen some of the pictures of places that have been mentioned and don't think I can stand to miss them. This is one of the reasons I have not confirmed any reservations along the way.

I am looking at the 10-day forecasts and am hoping it remains the way it shows now... High 60s, sunny and no rain! Can't wait to have that top down...

I will have pics from the road which will be posted intermittently either here or on Flickr, google+, etc. and I will share the link here.

Now to pack for my trip to Minnesota tomorrow... I get back to Miami next Saturday, to unpack and repack for the following day when I'm off to Germany.

I am right behind you taking delivery on the 10th. We are taking Fussen to Salzburg and then Venice to Lake Como and then Lauterbrunnen to Zurich. Am I at risk of driving in the snow or are there always lower options to take to keep out of the high altitudes? I worry about the Lake Como to Lauterbrunnen trip.

I am on performance tires. I am not risking a bad trip at all. There was an earlier reply to me either here or in another thread about snow already at moderate to lower altitudes.

Lake Como was on my itinerary as well (see my original post). But, I am going to settle for a more flexible drive, reducing the likelihood of bad weather to mess things up.

I don't know about you, but I already have my SIM for my iPhone and am ready to check the weather in the region on a daily basis and am prepared to go off my planned route as needed to enjoy it the best I can.

With just 7 days till takeoff from Miami, I recovered my password and am going to be posting pics from my trip on a Flickr stream... It will probably be captioned with details on places, routes, etc. I will be placing the link to the Flickr account here.

Was toying with the idea of doing a live ustream once in a while during the drive as well to mix it up a little ;-)